thunder in the air
by aleushadrake
Summary: mordecai and moxxi, they dont get along so well anymore. what does that have to do with maya? a continuation of 'dark clouds on the horizon'


Thunder in the air

When Maya arrives back at base Mordecai is awake, although he looks quite busy. Sitting in front of a screen he lowered to hang just over the counter, his fingers dance across a hologram of a keyboard being projected from a red lens on the bottom center of the screen. When she strolls in he nods at her but doesn't look away from the screen. Maya finds herself blinking in surprise at the way he seems to whiz through a whole lot of weird symbols on the screen. Is he typing those or looking through them? Behind him lil prods at a hologram of a blue print over the center console, simulated explosions making her more and more flustered.

"que pasa chica?"

Maya blinks at Morty bewildered by his random use of truxican, she never expects it.

" I said wh-"

"wait- I know this one..."

Mordecai pauses to look at her fully, amused by her expression of deep thought as she holds her own chin between thumb and forefinger.

"you asked- 'whats up' right?"

"pretty much- you learning from Salvador?"

She places her hands on her hips looking rather pleased with herself.

" not on purpose but I guess I'm catching a few things"

With a lopsided smirk he looks at her and prods.

"oh yea? What else do you know?"

"como es sta?... como se ama and... taco"

Mordecai finds himself laughing so hard he clutches at his stomach while he leans backward in his chair just about ready to tumble out of it. Maya blinks at him wondering if she said it wrong.

" you have such a crappy accent!"

She grumbles at him while he struggles to start breathing again, he eventually manages to calm down enough to lift his goggles and wipe away the accumulated wetness.

"well what do you expect? I've never even seen a truxican til I got here!"

Morty looks at her still smiling.

"can you say 'pendejo'? "

She arcs an eyebrow at him.

" I can say 'asshole' just fine."

"c'mon just say it- you wanna get the accent- learning to curse is the best way to get it."

From behind Maya lil just adds

"he's right you know."

"pen-dejo. Just try it."

Maya exhales sharply through her nose as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"..pendayho..."

Lilith immediately starts cackling behind her, Morty does his best not to laugh.

"c'mon say it with me this time. pen-"

He watches Mayas face burn bright ruby red.

"pen"

"deh"

"day"

"no its 'deh' try again"

"dey"

"deh"

"deh"

"jo"

"jo"

"pendejo"

"pendejo"

"there you go! You got it."

Maya just rolls her eyes at Morty who lightly bats her shoulder. He grins as he turns back to screen, which suddenly starts blinking at him. The smile is replaced with a look of extreme distaste.

" I hate this shit."

Lil glances over from her hologram.

" well if you have to go back at least this time you can have back up. Maya finished that other job and didn't have anything else lined up"

Morty looks over to Maya and tilts his head to the side ever so slightly.

" you mind runnin out with me? It was bitch to get this crap and apparently I missed one."

" where are we going?"

"to opportunity, the central data resource bank."

"if you take data wont they know what you take?"

"not if we leave a virus."

"where are we gonna get a virus to plant?"

"downstairs"

" I need to tell you, I don't wanna go near Tannis again... last time I talked to her she tried to bite me."

Mordecai stands up and pushes the screen back into position along side the others, tapping the red lens to shut off the keyboard.

"well c'mon, she only gets more dangerous as the day goes on. So lets get this over with."

Half an hour and one very coordinated conversation later Mordecai and Maya exit the front door, immediately he pauses and looks around.

"something wrong?"

"there are way too many people walking around."

"huh?"

"dammit"

Mordecai growls to himself and heads towards the bar, bumping into people all the way. Maya follows suit weaving through the crowd she hadn't even noticed. When they arrive at the bar, sure enough the wide double doors are still tightly shut. Maya finds herself shocked with how quickly his mood switched over. He slams the underside of his fist against the door a few times and shouts.

"god dammit Moxxi you open this damn door!"

Maya watches as the following silence only serves to make him madder. He snarls before digging into the small leather pouch attached to his belt above his flask and plucking out a small gray key. The way he turns the key so so hard, it wouldn't be surprising it it snapped off and jammed the lock. It doesn't. He shoves the door open not bothering to shut it behind him. His footsteps are heavy as he marches in glancing around as he goes before finding Moxxi sitting on the edge of one of the booths, just staring at the blocks of color on the wall.

That wall. In the corner booth. He sees the empty place on the wall and finds all he wants to do is break it, tear down the whole damn wall and erase that there was anything there to begin with.

"Moxxie why were the doors shut?"

When she turns to look at him, it stings, although he wont admit it. Her make up is dirty and smeared in little thin trails from her eyes. You can almost see her skin in these places.

"Morty I"

"no"

"I just need one day, please-"

"NO. when we let you come here you agreed that these damn doors would stay open- and they WILL STAY OPEN."

She stands up and almost shouts at him, although her voice is a bit hoarse.

"you cant do this to me you-"

With that Mordecai takes one long stride forward quickly snatching his goggles off as he leans down to look right into her face. His face only inches from hers, but with that stony glare, nowhere within reach. While fury riddles his expression his voice is laced with perfect calm.

"don't you ever blame me for what you did to yourself."

She clamps her mouth shut and glares right back at him, her petite fists curled and quivering at her sides. He works his jaw as he debates weather or not to say the rest of whats floating around in his head, no he won't. That much would be cruel.

"fix your face, you look like crap right now."

He moves to step out of her way and hears the crunch of broken glass underfoot.

"well crap"

She walks to her private bathroom and turns to say something over her shoulder only to spot Maya standing by the door looking bewildered. Maya glances away from Mordecai and finds Moxxi glaring at her.

"The hell are you glaring at me for? "

Her bathroom door slams shut without an answer. The tinkle of broken glass catches Maya's attention. Around the corner she spots him sweeping up the mess Moxxi had made in her one emotional meltdown. She picks up the trash can for him to toss the glass in.

"thanks"

"yea"

The glass piles at the bottom of the can and Mordecai finds himself staring at that picture of them all covered in ash and broken glass. How fitting it seems. He snorts at the image it makes before putting his goggles back in place. Maya sets the can back against the wall then darts after Mordecai who moved on without her.

The people mulling about town all seem frustrated and getting worse every time their shoulders bump. With a continued irritation Mordecai raises his voice to heard over the rumble of general displeasure.

" oi! Bars open in FIVE MINUTES! Start counting"

The crowd moves right at them but parts like red sea for him. His long strides are hard to keep up with, especially since he's moving with the intent of getting away. Maya trots after him all the way to the fast travel station where Mordecai jabs the buttons far harder than he needs to.

Maya reaches out and grabs hold of his wrist, before he can select their destination. He glares down at her only to find it returned with a look of deep concern.

"you're going to break it if you keep this up!"

He just huffs at her, making a slightly sour face but not saying anything. While still holding his wrist in her right hand she swipes lightly at the screen with the other choosing, he's not really sure where, but he's sure its not opportunity. Before he can refuse to go, he's blinked and now finds himself standing somewhere he doesn't recognize. Here its sandy. Endless sand as far as the eye can see, and nothing but the fast travel station anywhere. How the hell will they get back to the station?

The pressure of her hand around his wrist fades and he finds her just looking at him, as if she was waiting for something.

"what are we doing here?"

She just smiles at him before spinning on the ball of her foot and walking away. He finds himself just looking at the fast travel station, debating on just going by himself. In his mind the image of her concerned expression flashes before he can tap at the screen that's just sitting there.

"where are we going?"

"hurry up! Its a long walk."

He glares at her back as she walks along ahead of him, catching up is easy. Shes so small beside him, although when smiles over to him it becomes difficult to stay mad.

" Maya"

"hmm"

Neither of them slow down to talk. Although he finds himself glancing around, its strange here, little patches of greenery peppering what appears to be a desert.

" I'm pretty sure now isn't the best time, but I need to talk to you."

"about?"

"you... I noticed that lately you've been looking at me differently."

" yes I have been. You caught me."

Not at all the response he expected. Perhaps he was looking at this in a manner that she was not.

" umm, this is.. I'm not really sure where to go with this. You uh- you didn't follow the script I had in my head."

Her grin is wide and and excited as she turns to look at him.

" If I always said what I was supposed to I would never have come to Pandora"

" I guess that's true, I just-"

"you want to know how I look at you now? And why right?"

" yes and where the hell are we going?"

Maya points straight ahead.

"look through your scope"

He swings the sniper hanging over his back around, closing one eye as he look through the narrow scope. What he sees is small clump of tree's in the distance. Not much else. He swings the gun back around , looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"okay you answered where were going, now the rest."

" I am looking at you differently now because...I don't know how to see you."

"eh?"

" I didn't really know you at all before. I saw you only when you had work for me, I didn't talk to you really. I honestly forgot your name a few times."

She takes a deep breath deciding she might as well finish what she started.

" then I got stuck doing security with you, and you turned out to be really great. This amazing person- the kind of guy I honestly didn't think existed anymore, outside of books. Your so nice I don't understand how you can be so nice- you should be dead by now! Nice people don't last, how did you manage to survive everything and still stay human? I think about the way you are and I'm just blown away. You must have such incredible fortitude and you're clever and your generous. I get to see you now, and you talk to me, really talk to me not just a weird hello you exist and I know it thing."

As she goes on her pace increases and Mordecai actually has to walk more briskly to keep up.

" every time I get to be alone with you its really exciting! So when lil sticks me on security I get kind of stupid cause I know you're gonna teach me so many stupid things I have absolutely no use for but its so much fun to learn these weird ass things! I can't believe I know how to play poker- what am I gonna do with that? Not a damn thing but I liked you teaching me. I like doing nothing with you and now I always notice when you're gone and I miss you and its stupid cause I know you'll be right back. Then I just I don't know what to do cause... because you're this beautiful person and I'm getting to know you and I just... I wanna know more. I wanna know everything you're willing to share with me. I wanna wake up with you again- you don't know how amazing that was. I have never slept so good in my whole life and I have never been so happy to wake up at all!"

She stops and looks at Mordecai, who doesn't bother to notice the sound of running water, or the tall trees they now stand under. The millions of colors of flowers dotting the small bushes on the edge of the small oasis. He just stares at her and has no idea what to say. Her face is a brilliant red and her crystal blue eyes are glossy with tears she suddenly isn't bothering to hide from him.

" I don't want this. I don't know what to do with these feelings but I can't stop feeling it. I'm so scared of being attracted to you- cause I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what to do about the fact that I don't know and worst of all, I don't know what to do now that you know. I – I wanna be with you but I'm so scared that I'll do something stupid and make you hate me! I'm just so scared. But I wanna be brave so, so ..."

She unclenches her eyes to look at him through the tears that sting her eyes and roll freely down her face, her fists however stay curled and quaking at her sides. It is though tear blurred vision that she stares at him and finds him looking at her with an expression she just can't see clearly.

"please, please say something"

a/n: if you're going to say my writing is shit, go ahead, thats not really helpful at all though. i like to get better at things, so go ahead tell me its crap but at least tell me why


End file.
